Our favorite gear:
Great sounding amps and a great company from Northern California. Introduced in 1970, the Boogies proved to be absolute giant killers and began to re-define forever what a guitar amp could be and do. A small company working closely with leading players and fiercely dedicated to innovation and quality made a successful end-run around the sleeping giants of the industry. From the legendary “Holy Grail” of amplifiers, the Mark IIC+, to the Multi-watt Dual Rectifiers of the 2000’s, to the incredibly versatile Mark V, which includes every great feature of every great Mark Series before it, and now it’s little, brother, the Mark V 25, Mesa Engineering has the perfect amplifier for every situation. We want to thank Randy, Tim, Garey, Mike, Doug, and everyone else at Mesa for their friendship and support.
Ernie Ball Company has been making premium high-end products for years and the Music Man JP models in collaboration with John Petrucci are amazingly versatile guitars. Bob plays an awesome JP-15 with a trans-black quilt top and a gorgeous roasted flame maple neck and also a JPX. The electronics allow for both amazing electric and acoustic sounds in one package. The unrivaled workmanship and versatility make these Bob’s “go-to” guitars. Bob switched to Ernie Ball Paradigm Slinkys a few years ago. They are incredibly durable and sound great. He has NEVER broken a string since switching to Ernie Ball strings. We want to thank Tim Dove for his friendship and support.
There’s nothing like a 50s Les Paul, and the ’57 thru ’60 historic reissues are the next best thing to the original. Bob’s favorites include a 2007 1958 R8 sunburst historic reissue and a 2000 1957 R7 Goldtop historic reissue. Kurt has a gorgeous 1958 flametop reissue. These guitars are almost completely stock and they play and sound amazing. The combo of the Les Pauls and the Mesa Boogie amps create both a great crunchy sound AND can clean up, almost like a Strat.
Great, great acoustic guitars. The Taylor Expression system sounds great and feedback playing live is a thing of the past. Bob plays both a T5Z Pro and a 512ce, which has a mahogany back and sides, an Engelmann spruce top, and a mahogany neck with ebony fretboard. This pairing yields a wonderfully refined tone: bright, crisp, clear, and responsive to the touch. Kurt plays a 514ce with a Western Red cedar top that brings extra warmth and responsiveness to their popular mahogany Grand Auditorium cutaway. Both guitars play and sound great and stay in tune for days. Our thanks to Bob & Tim at Taylor for their help and support.
Kurt’s favorite guitars, and Bob loves them, too. The combo of Kurt’s Telecasters and Bob’s Les Pauls sound just awesome. Bob also plays numerous Strats for their extremely versatile sound and lightweight comfortable shape. The timeless features of Fender guitars have yet to be improved upon.
Kurt has used D’Addario strings since he was a kid. D’Addario makes great strings that play and sound awesome and last!! Their sister company, Planet Waves, makes some great guitar accessories, including a great, inexpensive clip-on headstock tuner
Rapco makes great guitar and mic cables. Bob uses a various custom pedal snakes made by the guys at Rapco that are built to hold up to the abuse of touring for years. The snakes vary from minimalistic, multi-pair cables with only 1/4″ lines that are perfect for flying and keep the weight to a minimum, to other elaborate snakes that include cables, MIDI and even 120V AC power for his Voodoo Labs Pedal Power II power supply.
